Cyclelogical Commuter Backpack | Review

There have been a few things that have surprised me about my transition to bike commuting, one is my new obsession with bags. Fit, comfort, style, capacity, all of these things need to be considered when choosing the right bag for daily commuting. So, of course, when an awesome company like Cyclelogical sent me one of their Commuter bags to test out, I was more than a little excited.

Like Sam, I was excited about Cyclelogical when I first heard about the company and my first impression of the bag confirmed my suspicion about the quality of their products. Out of the box, I could tell the Commuter backpack was of the highest quality. With weather sealed zippers, padded laptop compartment, designated laundry, shoe and yoga mat compartments, it was clear the folks of Cyclelogical had thought of everything.

But bags have personalities. With the various compartments, pockets, and flaps, the Commuter bag almost demands it’s owner put things in the right place – pack it just so. When I first opened the bag I felt like it needed instructions. Put your shoes here. Put your folded clothes here, sweaty clothes here. This zipper does…well I still don’t know what. It was complex. I liked the idea of it. A spot for everything. But in reality it wasn’t for me.

Compared to my other bag, this bag took twice as long to pack. I wanted to love it, in fact, I did love a lot of it: the reflective pin-striping on the font of bag and the velcro that could be used for reflector or velcroable solar panel – genius; the padded, comfortable but not bulky shoulder straps; the plush lining in the laptop compartment. So, I used it, trying to fall in love with it, but I kept finding myself looking for excuses to use my messenger bag.

I forgot to mention capacity. I made a joke to my wife one evening that the Commuter backpack was like Mary Poppins’ bag. I never seemed to run out of space. Several times, we’ve had the following conversation:
“Hey, can you pick up a couple of things on your way home today?”

“I’m not sure if I can fit them in my bag.”

“Just bring that big bag.”

But the capacity thing cuts both ways. It was a big bag and it looked big on by back. Most days I wasn’t carrying any more than I normally do, but I felt like I was taking up twice as much space. I’d gone from being a cyclist to being a classic Volkswagon Beetle.

The punchline is that I didn’t love the bag. I was impressed with the quality and comfort, but the truth is, it wasn’t designed for me, really. This bag is for upright cyclists with flatbars and street clothes. This bag is for people who want to make sure their clean clothes and dirty clothes never touch. This bag is for someone a bit more organized than me. So for that person, I recommend it. For everyone else, check out the rest of what Cyclelogical is doing, because they’re still making quality gear and probably have something for you.